Ternary barrier structure for conductive electrodes

ABSTRACT

A ternary barrier structure and method for forming the structure to be used on a conductive electrode. In electronic structures, dielectric substrates are used which have a plurality of connecting conductive areas which are wettable by solder. The region surrounding these connecting conductive areas are not wettable by solder. Barrier structures are used to prevent the flow of the solder while the solder is liquid during the manufacture of these electronic products. The present barrier structure covers at least a portion of one of these connecting conductive electrodes wherein the electrode is composed predominantly of silver and a lesser quantity of one or more of the platinum metals. The barrier structure includes a gold bearing, non-wettable by solder, glaseous layer over a portion of the electrode. The portion of the conductive electrode under and adjacent to the barrier glasseous layer contains a gold-silver alloy which is produced during the formation of the barrier structure by diffusion of the gold from the glasseous layer into the conductive electrode. A particularly corrosion resistant barrier structure and conductive electrode combination is thereby produced at this rather critical point in the microminiature circuit structure.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to methods for forming a ternary metal barrier structure on a conductive electrode and the resulting structure which is particularly corrosion resistant. The structure is useful in various microminiature circuit structures such as semiconductor chip joining sites and cross-overs.

Description of the Prior Art

One form of microminiature circuit structure utilizes a dielectric substrate or carrier of a variety of materials such as glass, various types of ceramic, such as alumina, and various types of plastic material. Formed upon or within the carrier are conductive electrodes. Solder is often applied to at least portions of the conductive electrodes to provide a means for subsequently joining components to the conductive electrodes on the carrier. Examples of components include semiconductor discrete diodes and transistors, integrated circuits, resistors, capacitors, cross-overs, etc.

A very important conductive electrode type which is applied to these carriers is an electrode composed predominantly of silver and to a lesser quantity of one or more of a platinum group of metals. These conductive electrode patterns are deposited according to the conventional thick film depositing techniques wherein a metallic paste of the metal is typically silk-screened onto the surface. Small quantities of a vitreous frit such as any of a variety of types of glasses are included in the paste which upon firing coalesces and acts to bond the metals to the substrates and to themselves. A description of this type of material is given in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,374,110 of Lewis F. Miller entitled "Conductive Element and Method" and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. In this patent, a silver-palladium alloy is described.

In the art, the one barrier structure extensively used has been a glass layer on thick film conductive electrodes of the type shown in the Miller U.S. Pat. cited above and in the B. Agusta U.S. Pat. No. 3,508,209 entitled "Monolithic Integrated Memory Array Structure Including Fabrication and Package Therefor" and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention. This type of barrier structure has found extensive use in the flip-chip bonding of semiconductor devices by high lead content solder reflow techniques. This type of barrier electrode and solder reflow flip-chip bonding is extensively described in the Miller U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,429,040 and 3,495,133, both assigned to the same assignee as the present invention.

Summary of the Present Invention

In accordance with the present invention, the life of a microminiature circuit device can be increased and the structure made more corrosion resistant by using a barrier structure which includes a gold bearing, non-wettable by solder, glaseous layer over a portion of the conductive electrode which is predominantly silver and contains a lesser quantity of one or more platinum metals. The portion of the electrode under the silver and platinum group metal electrode under the barrier structure includes a gold-silver-platinum group metal alloy. This ternary metallic structure in combination with the barrier structure is particularly corrosion resistant for long periods of time, even where particularly corrosive atmospheres of sulphur bearing gases are present. The gold is diffused into the conductive electrode region, where it is most necessary for corrosion preventive purposes, during the heating of the composite of conductive electrodes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows the top view of semiconductor integrated circuit chips mounted upon conductive electrodes on the surface of a dielectric substrate;

FIG. 2 shows a close-up side view of a semiconductor integrated circuit chip of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows the firing temperature profile using in the Examples,

FIG. 4A, B, and C schematically illustrates the process of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate one form of the barrier structure of the present invention and the method for manufacturing the same. This particular barrier structure of these FIGURES involve their use in the joining of semiconductor active, passive or integrated circuit chips onto a supporting substrate. A wettable with solder electrically conductive pattern 10 composed of silver and a lesser quantity of a platinum group/metal and having a plurality of connecting areas 12 is screened onto a supporting dielectric substrate 14 which contains pins 15 to connect to a higher level circuit board. The pattern 10 is dried and usually fired wherein a vitreous frit is used as a binder for the conductive material. The barrier structure pattern 16 having a significant gold constituent and which is not wettable with the solder is applied to the conductive pattern 10. The material can be printed by any conventional technique in the desired pattern, dried and fired to produce a coating that is not wettable with solder. A coating of lead-tin solder wherein the lead content is greater than 80 percent in the molten metal is then applied to the solder wettable area such as by dipping the substrate into a solder bath or other similar techniques. A flux may be applied over the solder. A microminiature component such as an integrated circuit 20 having solder contacts (not shown) extending therefrom is positioned on the connecting areas of the conductive pattern 12. The substrate, semiconductor chip component and connecting solder are heated in a suitable oven or furnace where the solder contacts and the connecting areas are held at a temperature and for a time sufficient to soften the solder. The solder ball on the semiconductor chip and the solder from the connecting area form the unified solder mask at this temperature. The solder maintains itself in substantially a ball on the connecting areas 12 because of the surface tension phenomena caused by the fact that the solder does not wet the pattern 16 and the surrounding dielectric substrate 14. The temperature is then reduced to room temperature and the solder solidifies to give the resulting structure of FIG. 2.

The conductive pattern 10 is composed of silver-platinum metal alloy, one of which being an alloy of silver and palladium or palladium oxide such as described in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,374,110 of Lewis F. Miller entitled "Conductive Element and Method" and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention. The other platinum metals which will perform in a similar manner to palladium ae platinum, osmium, iridium, ruthenium, and rhodium. The silver content in the finished conductor is greater than about 75% because the cost is lower, the conductivity is greater and the Pd does not oxidize during air firing.

The silver-platinum metal alloy has mixed with it small quantities of a vitreous frit which acts to bond the metals to a substrate and to themselves. The vitreous frit component of the conductor would be in the range of anywhere from one to ten percent by weight of the solid constituent. The particular vitreous frits which are operable in composition would be the same that are described in the beforementioned patent U.S. Pat. No. 3,374,110 involving silver-palladium.

Conductors using reactive bonding material such as described in R. G. Loasby et al "Enhanced Property Thick-Film Conductor Pastes", Solid State Technology, May 1972, pp 46-60, may also be used. A typical reactive bonding material is under 1 weight percent of copper oxide. This points up the fact that the amount or type or frit is immaterial.

The next important aspect of the invention involves the requirement for a gold-bearing constituent in the barrier coating deposit. The preferred percent of gold in weight percent is 20 percent or to provide sufficient corrosion resistance. This gold bearing composition would contain a vitreous frit to hold particles together, together with suitable binder and vehicle to spread the paste by the usual printing such as silk screen techniques. The vitreous frit may be any one or a combination of finely divided materials including colloidal silica, alumina, oxides, nitrides, borides, carbides or silicides. The barrier coating is then fired in a furnace at an elevated temperature to sinter it to a firm structure and more importantly to form under the barrier coating a gold, silver and platinum group metal alloy.

The firing temperature range is between about 750° to 1050° C. for greater than about 5 minutes. Below 750° C the gold doesn't diffuse into the stripe satisfactorily and above about 1050° C the gold melts. One firing cycle which has given particularly valuable results is shown in FIGURE 3 wherein the structure is brought from room temperature through a 10 minute firing cycle at 825° C and then down again to room temperature within a 30 minute overall period.

The high lead content solder, that is greater than about 80%, has in the prior art glass barrier structure tended to leach out the non-silver component in the conductor. The effect was to leave pure silver conductor available for sulfur corrosion. The gold barrier layer forms a stable gold/silver alloy which resists the corrosion even if the platinum metal is depleted from the structure by the molten solder.

Cross-sections and electron microprobe analysis have shown that when the gold barrier layer is fired on top of the previously fired silver platinum group metal conductor, some of the silver diffuses out into the gold and some of the gold fuses down into the silver noble metal conductor to form a ternary composition. With one firing at 825° C, the gold apparently moves about half way down to the dielectric substrate 14. Two or more firings at 825° C moves the gold down to the substrate itself. The platinum group metal remains reasonably intact, although some platinum group metal moves up into the gold region also. Electron microprobe analysis also shows us that the lead-tin solder reacts with the top surface of the gold barrier layer probably to form a tin-gold intermetallic compound. The solder covers the underlying silver-platinum group metal conductive pattern and forms a continuous layer over the gold barrier layers themselves. No dewetting occurs near the barrier layer, unlike the glass barrier layers of the prior art. Thus, compared to the glass barrier layer, there is no easy place for a sulphur corrosion to initiate. Where the platinum metal depletion has occurred, no free silver is left. It is confined with gold and is corrosion resistant.

The structure and improvement of this invention can be more fully understood by reference to FIGS. 4A, B, and C. FIG. 4A shows the fired conductor 21 carried on a substrate 14. A dried gold barrier 22 is deposited on top of conductor 21. No interaction between the layers has yet taken place.

FIG. 4B shows the same structure after firing according to the cycle shown in FIG. 3. Much of the conductor 21 is unchanged, but the section underlying the gold barrier has been converted to a gold rich compound. Some of the silver from conductor 21 has diffused upward into the gold barrier, forming a gold/silver composition 23 which is rich in gold.

FIG. 4C shows the structure after tinning with a high lead-low tin solder. Some of the conductor has been depleted, now 25, and now consists of lead/palladium compound with some free silver. Solder 26 wets the entire conductor surface, and abuts closely to gold barrier 23. Site 27 is the normal area where corrosion would occur with a non-gold barrier. Corrosion cannot occur in this case since solder 26 wets right up to the gold barrier 23, and the underlying gold rich layer 24 prevents penetration from corrosive species such as sulfur. No entry is now available for sulfur or the like to attack the free silver which was caused by the depletion reaction between the solder and conductor 21.

Such barrier layers can be used to prevent tinning of conductors wherever desired, without the threat of sulfide corrosion, and without sacrifice of the conductor properties. The conductivity of the underlying conductor is increased by the additional material in the barrier.

The following Examples are included merely to aid in the understanding of the invention and variations may be made by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

EXAMPLE 1

A pattern which provided 25 parallel 4 mil wide lines on 8 mil centers was screened onto 10 alumina substrates with silver/palladium paste and fired at 825° C. using the furnace profile shown in FIG. 3. The paste had the following composition in parts by weight:

    ______________________________________                                         Silver                 76.8                                                    Palladium              19.2                                                    Glass frit             4                                                       ______________________________________                                    

The glass frit was composed of in parts by weight:

    ______________________________________                                         Aluminum oxide         2.2                                                     Silicon dioxide        22.4                                                    Lead oxide             66.6                                                    Boron oxide            8.8                                                     ______________________________________                                    

A 25% by weight vehicle of ethylcellulose dissolved in butylcarbitol acetate had been added to the mixture to form the paste.

Non-tinning (i.e. not wettable with solder) gold and glass coating stripes were each deposited perpendicular to the pattern lines in groups of at least 3 stripes. The solids of the compositions are given as Au-1 for gold in parts by weight in Table I and glass barrier in Table II:

                  Table I                                                          ______________________________________                                                  Au-1 Au-2   Au-3   Au-4 Pt   Pd   Pt/Pd                               ______________________________________                                         Gold Powder                                                                               74     40      75  25                                               Pt Powder                          62        25                                Pd Powder                               75   25                                Glass Frit 1                                                                               3     35     4.5  45                                               Glass Frit 2                       10    3    2                                Colloidal   2      2     1.5  2.25 3                                            Silica                                                                        Silicon                                                                         Resinate                7                                                     6566 Au                                                                         Resinate                                                                       (Hanovia Div.                                                                  Engelhard                                                                      Ind.)     21     22      12  25                                               ______________________________________                                    

                  Table II                                                         ______________________________________                                         Glass Frit 1   Glass Frit 2                                                                               Glass Barrier                                       ______________________________________                                         SiO.sub.2                                                                             22.4        73          65.5                                            B.sub.2 O.sub.3                                                                       8.8         16.5        24.1                                            Na.sub.2 O         4.5         4.1                                             PbO    66.6        6                                                           Al.sub.2 O.sub.3                                                                      2                       2.2                                             K.sub.2 O                      4.1                                             ______________________________________                                    

The paste composition is made up of the solids given in Tables I and II plus the vehicle composition. The solids are given in Table I and the remainder up to 100% is the vehicle composition.

The vehicle composition used was as follows in parts by weight:

    ______________________________________                                         Butyl carbitol acetate 75%                                                     Ethyl cellulose        20%                                                     Oleoyl sarkosine       5%                                                      ______________________________________                                    

The stripes were fired at 825° C moving four inches/minute through the furnace cycle shown in FIG. 3. The pattern was coated with a 90% lead 10% tin solder by dipping it in a solder bath for 10 seconds. The samples were put into a closed chamber containing flowers of sulfur held at 125° C. resulting in an atmosphere containing 900 parts per million of sulfur and periodically examined under a microscope for visual signs of corrosion. Table I summarizes the results of these tests. It should be noted that the acceleration factor for this test compared to normal field exposure is about 2,000 times. As can be seen, the sample preparation, particularly in terms of number of firings and reflows, changes from test to test. Each firing was done under the same furnace conditions described. Solder reflow, where done, was after the application of the solder and under the following conditions: 345° C. ± 5° C, 3 minutes, in an inert atmosphere, as nitrogen or argon.

                                      Table III                                    __________________________________________________________________________               Coating   Barrier                                                                             First Sign                                                                               Hours                                       Example                                                                             Samples                                                                             Fired                                                                               Reflowed                                                                            Layer                                                                               of Corrosion                                                                             on Test                                     __________________________________________________________________________     1    10   2X   No   Au-1 Untinned Section                                                                         480                                                                  dark at 336 hrs.                                                               Most areas bright                                                              at 480 hours                                                              Glass                                                                               24 hrs. spots                                         2    6    1X   Yes  Pd   68 hrs. (Did not                                                                         300                                                                  stop corrosion)                                                           Glass                                                                               Dark 68 hrs.                                                              Au-1 At 300 hrs. some                                                               crystals, dark                                                                 on untinned                                                                    sections only                                         3    5    1X   Yes  Pt   146 hrs. many                                                                            146                                                                  crystals                                                                  Glass                                                                               Seemed clean                                                                   at 146 hrs.                                                               Au-2 Clean                                                                     Au-3 146 hrs. few                                                                   crystals                                              4    5    1X   Yes  Pt/Pd                                                                               146 hrs.crystals                                                                         146                                                             Glass                                                                               22 hrs. some                                                                   spots                                                                     Au-4 Clean                                                                     Au-1 146 hrs.-a few                                                                 untinned spots                                                                 are darker                                            __________________________________________________________________________

EXAMPLE 2

The procedure of Example 1 was followed and the conditions of Table III as given except the non-tinning coating stripes were of the compositions in parts by weight on each sample are given in Table I for Pd and Au-1 and Table II for the glass barrier.

EXAMPLE 3

The procedure of Example 1 was followed and the conditions of Table I as given except the non-tinning coating stripes were of the compositions in parts by weight on each sample are given in Table I for Pt, Au-2 and Au-3 and Table II for the glass barrier.

EXAMPLE 4

The procedure of Example 1 was followed and the conditions of Table I as given except the non-tinning coating stripes were of the compositions in parts by weight on each sample are given in Table I for Pt/Pd, Au-1, Au-4 and Table II for glass barrier.

The Examples 1-4 were only sensitive enough to determine the advantages or disadvantages of barrier structures on a gross basis. On this basis, the glass dams permitted more visual corrosion than any of the non-tinning metals. The non-tinning gold dams showed much less visual corrosion, typically less than any other metals used in these examples. As an example, the areas around the gold barrier were bright after as many as 480 hours on the tests. The glass barriers were severely corroded in as litle as 24 hours. The areas around the palladium barriers were darkened by corrosion by 68 hours. The area around the platinum and platinum/palladium showed corrosion at 146 hours. The test times are unacceptable for all but gold.

EXAMPLES 5 and 6

A pattern of 5, 10 and 15 mil wide lines was screened with a silver palladium oxide paste and fired as described in Example 1. The composition was:

    ______________________________________                                         Ag               74.6                                                          PdO              21.5    Solids 81%                                            Glass Frit 1     3.9                                                            (from Table 1)                                                                Vehicle                  19                                                    ______________________________________                                    

Gold barrier stripes were formed on the conductor lines, which barrier had the following composition, when deposited, in parts by weight:

    ______________________________________                                         Au                    77%                                                      Colloidal                                                                       Silica               2%                                                       Frit 1 (from          4%                                                        Table 1)                                                                      Gold Resinate         11%                                                      Silicon Re-                                                                     sinate               6%                                                       ______________________________________                                    

The barrier stripes were fired as described in Example 1. The conditions and number of samples from Examples 5 and 6 are shown in Table IV. As controls on Example 5, 14 4-mil lines on 8-mil centers were screened with glass No. 1 across some of the 10-mil lines only. The glass barrier composition was in parts by weight:

    ______________________________________                                         Glass No. 1                                                                    ______________________________________                                         SiO.sub.2             65.5                                                     B.sub.2 O.sub.3       24.1                                                     Na.sub.2 O            4.1                                                      K.sub.2 O             4.1                                                      Al.sub.2 O.sub.3      2.2                                                      ______________________________________                                    

For controls on Example 6, 10 samples each were screened with glass No. 1 and glass No. 2 in exactly the same format. All specimens wee randomized for tinning and heating treating. The glass composition in parts by weight was as follows:

    ______________________________________                                         Glass No. 2                                                                    ______________________________________                                         Al.sub.2 O.sub.3      11                                                       SiO.sub.2             39.3                                                     PbO                   20.4                                                     B.sub.2 O.sub.3       19.6                                                     BaO                    9.7                                                     ______________________________________                                    

The samples were placed in a dessicator containing sulfur maintained at 125° C (900 ppm. sulfur). Conductivity readings were taken with Simpson type ohm meters, and samples were examined optically. The meter accuracy is estimated to have been about ±0.2 ohms, based on the variability in samples that did not change resistance within a long period of time. The results are given in Table V for Example 5 and Table VI for Example 6 in resistance in ohms/inch for the samples prior to the corrosion test and at various times during the test.

Even these badly depleted samples of silver/palladium oxide paste did not show large resistance changes with gold dams in either 500 or 936 hours at 125° C. The gold dams slightly lowered the resistance of the fired silver/palladium oxide conductor (about 0.1 ohm per inch). Tinning further decreased the resistance up to 0.3 ohms per inch. The gold barrier structures did not totally eliminate sulfide corrosion products as observed visually from the top; such crystals appeared as early as 116 hours on the single fired gold barrier specimens. However, in Example 5 only extremely small crystals were observed on double fired dams after as long as 768 hours. This implies that double barrier layer firing is advantageous with respect to visible corrosion. No differentiation in resistance changes was noted for any of the firing variations, or static tinning versus vibration tinning. Glass barrier layer resistance changes of 0.5 ohms occurred on the 10-mil lines in Example 5 as early as 138 hours, with the majority of the changes beginning at 304 hours. In Example 6, the resistance changes of the glass samples began at about 94 hours.

The glass No. 1 and No. 2 controls were taken off test at 504 hours, since it was obvious that heavy corrosion and resistance changes were occurring on almost all specimens.

The following is a summation of Table V of Example 5 given in resistance in ohms:

    ______________________________________                                                            Change Due        Typical                                   Initial Land                                                                            Change Due                                                                               To Tinning                                                                               Change at                                                                              Change at                                 Resistance                                                                              To Barrier                                                                               & Reflow  350 hrs.                                                                               950 hrs.                                  ______________________________________                                         Gold Barrier                                                                   eg .9-1.0                                                                               0 to -.1  0 to -.3  0 to .4 0 to .4                                   GlaSS Barrier                0 to 3.0                                                                               Over 5                                    ______________________________________                                    

Example 5 was carried out to 1100 hours, with no resistance changes as high as a half ohm. The glass barrier specimens showed visible corrosion (blackening) at the first readout of the test. No difficulty was experienced with electrical shorting of the gold barriers. The gold barrier pastes screen rather well and do not flow during firing like the glass materials. One line dammed with gold from Example 5 (sample No. 6), showed a resistance increase starting at about 200 hours. Microscopic examination showed large corrosion products on the tinned silver/palladium area between dams. This appeared to be corrosion of the undepleted silver/palladium alloy, which has not shown to be a field failure mechanism.

                                      Table IV                                     __________________________________________________________________________                      Example 5                                                                              Example 6                                             __________________________________________________________________________     Lines per sample 3       3                                                     Total samples    33      30                                                    Conductor Firing Temperatures                                                                   825° C                                                                          825° C                                         Land firings     1 and 2 1                                                     Barrier firings  1 and 2 2                                                     Extra glass firing                                                                              1       --                                                    Heat treat       2 chip reflow                                                                          1 hour at 258° C                                                cycles                                                        Tinning (i.e. solder coating)                                                                   Yes     Yes                                                   Silicone Gel - Dow Corning                                                      Sylgard 51      No      Yes                                                   Number of barriers                                                                              6       8                                                     Conductor thickness                                                                             22-29μ                                                                              22-29 μ                                            Au barrier sites 308     400                                                   Control          Glass on some                                                                          2 separate glass                                                       lines   barrier specimens                                                              (10 each)                                             __________________________________________________________________________

                                      Table V                                      __________________________________________________________________________     Resistance for 10 Mil Wide Line, Ohms                                          825° C                                                                       825° C                                                                       825° C                                                                            Vi-                                                        Land Dam  Glass                                                                               2 Re-                                                                               bration   With Reflowed,                                                                            350  936                              Fire Fire Fire Flows                                                                               Tinned                                                                              Land Barrier                                                                             Tinned                                                                               Hrs. Hrs.                             __________________________________________________________________________     1    1         X         .9   .8   .9    .9   1.0                              1    1         X         .9   .9   .9    1.0  1.0                              1    1         X         .9   .8   X     .8   .9                               1    1         X         .9   X    .8    .9   1.0                              1    1         X         .9   .9   .7    .7   1.1                              1    1         X         .9   .8   .7    .7   .8                               1    2         X         1    .9   X     X    X                                1    2         X         .9   X    .7    .7   1.0                              1    2         X         .9   .8   .8    .8   .8                               2    1         X         .9   X    .8    .8   .8                               2    1         X         1.0  1.0  .7    X    X                                2    1         X         .9   X    .8    .9   1.0                              2    1         X         .9   X    .6    .7   .8                               2    1         X         X    X    X     .8   .8   .9                          2    2    1    X         1.0  X    .9    1.0  1.4                              2    2    1    X                   .9    1.6  12.0                             1    2    1    X                   .8    1.95 11.0                             1    2    1    X              1.0  1.0   1.5  9.0                              1    2    1    X                                                               1    2    1    X                   .7    1.8  OPEN                             1    2    1    X                   .8    1.9  6.5                              1    2    1    X         Glassed   1.0   1.0  8.0                              1    2    1    X         Lines     .8    1.3  3.4                              1    2    1    X                   .8    4.0  50.0                             1    2    1    X                         1.0  1.6                              1    1         X         1.0  1.0  1.2   1.4  1.3                              1    1         X    X    .9   .9   1.2   1.1  1.1                              1    1         X    X    1.0  1.0  1.25  1.1  1.3                              1    1         X    X    .9   .9   1.2   1.1  1.0                              1    1         X    X    1.0  1.0  1.15  1.05 1.2                              1    1         X    X    1.0  1.0  1.1   1.05 1.0                              1    1         X    X    .9   .9   1.4   1.15 1.4                              1    1         X    X    1.0  1.0  1.25  1.1  1.2                              1    1         X    X    1.0  1.0  1.2   1.05 1.05                             __________________________________________________________________________

                  Table VI                                                         ______________________________________                                                T.sub.0                                                                            94 Hrs.   336 Hrs.  504 Hrs.                                        ______________________________________                                         Gold Barriers                                                                   .75        .75       .7        .85                                            1.1        1.1       1.0       1.2                                              .9         .95       .9       1                                                .9        1.1       1.0       1.1                                             1.0        1.0       1.4       1.8                                             1.0        1.3       1.1       1.2                                              .8         .85       .8        .85                                             .9        1.1       1         1                                               1.0        1.05      1         1.05                                            1.0        1.1       1.1       1                                                .9         .95      1.1       1.1                                             Glass No. 2 Barriers                                                           1.0        1.6       1.8       2                                                .85       OFF                                                                 1.0        4.0       5.6       7                                                .9        1.9       2.2       2.4                                             1.0         --                                                                 1.1        1.3       1.3       1.3                                             1.2        1.2       1.3       1.4                                             1.3        1.5       4.8       1.9                                             1.4        2.1       2.1       OPEN                                            1.1        1.2       1.2       1.4                                              .8        8.6        --                                                       1.0        OFF       0                                                         Glass No. 1 Barriers                                                           1.0        1.9       OFF        --                                             1.2        2.4       5.8       7.0                                             1.2        1.2       1.3       1.5                                             1.0        1.1       1.2       1.7                                             1.2        1.3       3.4       OPEN                                            1.2        1.15      1.2       1.7                                             1.2        1.1       1.25      1.3                                             1.15       1.8       8.4       12                                              1.0         .95      1.0       1.3                                              .95        .85      1.1       1.5                                             1.3        1.35      3.1       4                                               ______________________________________                                    

EXAMPLES 7 and 8

A gold-silver-palladium ternary conductor, silver-palladium conductor, and high surface area silver/palladium conductor 9, each having non-tinning gold barriers (Example 7) and with glass barriers (Example 8) thereon.

Conductive lands of the following compositions in parts by weight were formed on alumina substrates:

    __________________________________________________________________________     A                 B             C                                              __________________________________________________________________________     Ag     57.6    Ag     76.8   Ag     74.6                                       Pd     19.2    Pd     19.2   PdO    21.5                                       Au     19.2    Bi.sub.2 O.sub.3                                                                      4      Glass frit                                                                            3.9                                        Glass frit                                                                            4       Glass frit                                                                            2      (Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 2.2                                    79.5 solids    75 solids     81 solids                                  (Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 2.2                                                                         (Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 3.2                                                                        SiO.sub.2 22.2                                    SiO.sub.2 22.2 SiO.sub.2 29  PbO 66.6                                          PbO 66.6       PbO 51        B.sub.2 O.sub.3 8.8)                              B.sub.2 O.sub.3 8.8                                                                           B.sub.2 O.sub.3 9                                                              ZrO.sub.2 1.2                                                                  TiO.sub.2 2                                                                    Na.sub.2 O 1.7                                                                 CdO 2.8)                                                        Vehicle                                                                               20.5    Vehicle                                                                               25.    Vehicle                                                                               19.                                        __________________________________________________________________________

The lands were fired once at 825° C using the FIG. 3 firing cycle. 150 barrier coating stripes were applied across each land. Their composition in parts by weight were:

    ______________________________________                                         Glass Barrier    Gold                                                          ______________________________________                                         Al.sub.2 O.sub.3                                                                         3.2      Au Powder      77                                           SiO.sub.2 29       Cab-o-sil                                                                       Colloidal Silica                                                                             2                                            PbO       51       Frit 1 (from Table                                                             I)             4                                            B.sub.2 O.sub.3                                                                          9        6566 Au Resinate                                                                              11%                                                              (Hanovia Div.                                                                  Englehard Ind.)                                            ZrO.sub.2 1.2      Silicon Resinate                                                                              6%                                           TiO.sub.2 2                                                                    Na.sub.2 O                                                                               1.7                                                                  CdO       2.8                                                                  ______________________________________                                    

The barrier stripes were then fired once at 825° C using the FIG. 3 firing cycle. Solder was then deposited by dipping the composite in a 90 lead--10 tin solder bath on the areas of the lands not covered with the barriers. The samples were heated for 1 hour at 285° C to deplete the palladium with the lead from the solder, aggravating the potential for sulfide corrosion of the remaining silver. The samples were placed in a chamber containing sulfur maintained at 125° C, which gives an atmosphere containing 900 ppm sulfur. The number of opens per 30 conductor segments, each containing 50 barriers for each of the compositions over a period of 709 hours is given in Table VII for Examples 7A, B, C and 8A, B, C.

                  Table VII                                                        ______________________________________                                         Number of Opens per 30 Segments (Containing                                    50 Barriers Each)                                                              Example 8                                                                      Glass  115     231     303   415   504   709                                   Barrier                                                                               Hrs.    Hrs.    Hrs.  Hrs.  Hrs.  Hrs.                                  ______________________________________                                         A      0       1       3     3     3     4                                     B      3       4-6     6     6     6     6                                     C      11      12      13    16    23    30(100%)                              Example 7                                                                      Gold Barrier                                                                   A      0       0       0     0     0     0                                     B      0       0       0     0     0     0                                     C      0       0       0     0     0     0                                     ______________________________________                                    

The Table VII shows that not a single gold barrier failure was observed while substantial failures on glass barriers were observed.

EXAMPLES 9-14

Several different silver/palladium oxide pastes conductors were tested with the non-tinning gold barrier stripes.

Each of the Examples 9-14 has 80% silver and either 20% palladium or 20% palladium oxide of the conductive portion of the conductive lands. The variation in the surface area from Example to Example in m² /gm is given in the Table V.

The glass frit compositions used in the conductive lands were the Bismuth oxide BiO₃ and glass frit combination given in the Table VIII as No. 3 of B in Example 7 and 8 and the following:

    ______________________________________                                                      No. 1  No. 2                                                      ______________________________________                                         SiO.sub.2      22.4        16.4                                                Al.sub.2 O.sub.3                                                                              2.2         2.1                                                 PbO            66.6        75.7                                                B.sub.2 O.sub.3                                                                               8.8         5.8                                                 ______________________________________                                    

The glass composition used for the glass barrier stripes was:

    ______________________________________                                         SiO.sub.2              65.5                                                    Al.sub.2 O.sub.3       2.2                                                     Na.sub.2 O             4.1                                                     K.sub.2 O              4.1                                                     B.sub.2 O.sub.3        24.1                                                    ______________________________________                                    

The formation and firing of the conductor lands and barrier stripes were done as described in Examples 7 and 8.

The solder coating and corrosion test procedure also was the same as that described in conjunction with Examples 7 and 8.

                                      Table VIII                                   __________________________________________________________________________     Surface Area     Glass No. of                                                  in m.sup.2 /gm   Frit in                                                                              Au Bar-                                                                             Percent of Opens                                   Exam-            Parts rier 60       110  220  514                             ples                                                                               Ag  Pd   PdO By Wt.                                                                               Samples                                                                             Hrs.     Hrs. Hrs. Hrs.                            __________________________________________________________________________      9  1.9 19.5     4 No. 1                                                                              7    Au  0    0    0    0                                                           Glass                                                                              0    0    16   50                              10  1.9 19.5     6 No. 3                                                                              6    Au  0    0    0    0                                                           Glass                                                                              0    0    0    5                               11  1.9 19.5/    4 No. 2                                                                              7    Au  0    0    0    0                                        7.5                Glass                                                                              0    2    5    5                                        (1/1)                                                                 12  .4  7.5      4 No. 1                                                                              8    Au  5    13   13   13                                                          Glass                                                                              25   50   100  100                             13  .4       .8  4 No. 1                                                                              4    Au  0    6    6    6                                                           Glass                                                                              16   30   100  100                             14  1.9      .8  4 No. 1                                                                              7    Au  0    0    0    0                                                           Glass                                                                              24   47   66   Not                                                                            Con-                                                                           tinued                          (Same conditions as Table V. 25 Samples, glass each cell)                      __________________________________________________________________________

Table VIII shows that the gold barriers are clearly superior to the glass barriers in all cases. The only instances where failure occurred, after a long period of time, were on a very bad low surface area palladium paste and on the equivalently bad low surface area palladium oxide paste. There were never any high surface area silver/palladium conductor fails with a gold barrier on it, even when depleted and for very extended periods of time.

While the invention has been described in detail with reference to specific embodiments thereof, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A corrosion resistant microminiature circuit structure comprising:a substrate having a conductive electrode pattern with a plurality of connecting areas which are wettable by solder; said conductive electrode is composed predominently of silver and a lesser quantity of platinum group metal; regions surrounding said connecting areas not wettable by solder; at least a portion of said regions surrounding including a gold bearing, glasseous layer over a portion of a said conductive electrode including a silver and gold alloy; a chip of semiconductor material having a planar face with solder wettable terminal areas; and solder contacts establishing a unified joint between the terminal areas of said chip and said connecting areas, said solder contacts forming the means for physically supporting said chip from said substrate.
 2. The microminiature circuit structure of claim 1 wherein said solder contains greater than about 80 percent by weight lead.
 3. The microminiature circuit structure of claim 1 wherein there is greater than about 20 percent by weight gold in said regions surrounding.
 4. The microminiature circuit structure of claim 1 wherein said platinum group metal is palladium.
 5. A corrosion resistant microminiature circuit structure comprising:a dielectric substrate having a conductive electrode pattern thereon which is composed of a material which is wettable with solder; said conductive pattern composed predominently of silver having a plurality of connecting areas; a pattern of a material which is not wetted by solder over said conductive pattern which isolates a small wettable with solder area at each of the said connecting areas from the remaining portions of said conductive pattern; said pattern of material including a gold bearing, glasseous layer and the portion of said conductive pattern under the said pattern of material including a gold-silver alloy; a chip of semiconductive material having a planar face with solder wettable terminal areas; solder contacts bonding said terminal areas to said connecting areas; and said chip being otherwise spaced and physically supported from said substrate by means of said solder at said preselected connecting areas.
 6. The microminiature circuit structure of claim 5 wherein said conductive pattern contains a quantity of a platinum group metal and said solder contains greater than 80 percent by weight lead.
 7. The microminiature circuit structure of claim 6 wherein the platinum group metal is palladium.
 8. The microminiature circuit structure of claim 5 wherein there is greater than about 20 percent by weight gold in said portion of said conductive pattern. 